Defining America with images of white supremacists is a serious problem: Duvalier Malone

The white nationalist rally in Charlottesville was in part ignited by the city's plan to begin taking down, a statue memorializing Confederate general Robert E. Lee. In cities all over the U.S. efforts to remove similar type monuments is becoming common place. In Baltimore that city began removing its Confederate monuments. Gainesville, Florida, , and Lexington Kentucky have also joined the the ranks of city leaders taking a stand against the history behind such monuments.
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How do we want to define our country? That is the question that has been hanging over the entire nation ever since we watched a rally of white supremacists and neo-Nazis march on the University of Virginia campus, carrying torches and spewing hate.

These white supremacists are card-carrying members of various racist and anti-semitic groups. They also support the Confederate image and have gone on record to say they want to take America back to the days of blatant white privilege.

White supremacist leaders have taken solace in the fact President Trump has refused to unequivocally condemn their actions. Instead, he has declared there are “good” neo-Nazis. After his now-infamous news conference, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke tweeted his thanks to the president for his support.

The leaders of these groups don't care that everything they are doing goes against the very principles on which this country was founded, that their message of hate has been taken as a directive to individuals to commit horrible crimes, that one of their members plowed his car into a crowd of innocent people and killed Heather Heyer, who was simply exercising her right to speak up for what she felt was right.

So how do we define our country?

For decades, Americans have held ourselves up as a moral standard. Few have disagreed with that position because the world has recognized that we have never refused to condemn our past mistakes as we moved forward into the progress of tomorrow.

But it seems this is now changing. There's no doubt this moment in history will define our country.

What each of us does, matters — now more than ever. Each American has a duty to follow his or her moral conscience.

But at the forefront of some 320 million Americans stands our president. Our nation has always looked to each our presidents in our darkest hours. We have been comforted by knowing, no matter how bleak our future seemed, we could look for the shining light on the hill in the form of our president.

But what happens when we don't have that anymore?

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump proudly championed a message of violence, bigotry, racism, sexism and classism. He carried that message right through the White House doors.

I truly feel Trump does not care about our country. Otherwise, why would he work so hard to divide us?

There is now a clear rift between Americans. We have always used the terms “right” and “left,” but during the last week, those terms have taken on new meanings. Both sides are entrenched in their respective ideologies, as they prepare for future confrontations.

By voicing support for Confederate images and statues, Trump is sending a clear dog whistle to the racists in America. Confederate relics have become a rallying cry for racists.

If for no other reason than the controversy surrounding them, these Confederate images should be removed. Send them to museums. Remove the Confederate image from the Mississippi state flag. If you say it represents your history, then I'm here to tell you: History belongs in a museum.

We are at a crucial moment in our history that will define our country to the world. Is America founded on principles of freedom and justice for all, built upon pillars of respect for our fellow man and woman? Or is it based on something cruder: the judgment of men and women by the color of their skin, instead of the content of their character, and hating anything that is different from ourselves?

Where do you stand?

I've said it before, and I will say it again and again: The Confederate symbol represents bigotry, racism and hatred. This is not an opinion. This is a fact.

The Confederate flag has been used as cover for hate groups that exist only to victimize a segment of our population. It's time we finally pull the covers away and expose these harbingers of hate for what they are.

Heather Heyer didn't deserve to die; neither does anyone else.

We cannot let our country be pulled back into the darkness. The long night of racism, hatred and bigotry must come to an end.

Duvalier Malone, a native of Fayette, lives in Washington, D.C. He is CEO and founder of Duvalier Malone Enterprises.